The only thing that accompanied his movements were Sylvie's choreographed dance routines against the unpredictable blows of a Kang overcome by his own rage. His name admitted it: the Conqueror.
For him, the desire to have everything at his feet was inevitable, to demonstrate his strength, his power, his wrath. Loki couldn't deny that Kang was nothing more than relentless to the height of two daggers and his magic.
Or even Sylvie's.
The battleground in question was the grimy entrance to the Kamar Taj in downtown New York. It was strange to admit that, after so long, he would only return to help the team of heroes he once tried to defeat. Help a world he tried to conquer.
Nothing differentiated him from being like Kang, thirsty for power, if not time itself, which they fought tirelessly not to lose. Time was a sacred concept in a branching, multifaceted, open, and extremely lethal multiverse. Time was the concession, the living and the limit of life.
And nothing is more powerful than conquering time itself.
As Kang advanced, Sylvie's steps got stuck, her dance no longer had so much freedom of movement and Loki noticed the gasp of breathlessness that stopped her from continuing.
Lost war.
But how far was allowed to give up? Not until everything was completely over.
He couldn't see Sylvie lose, not while he was there to help her, not while he was there to die for her – if needed be.
Perhaps his loyalty had been more extreme than usual, but he allowed himself to feel it. He did have important things in life, and making sure she was okay was one of them.
But now he wasn't so sure he could do this.
More time passed, as a series of twisted, dodged – hit – strikes found whoever was in front.
Once again, the heroes were far away from winning and, honestly, in this story Loki was fed up with knowing who was the villain or the savior.
But a fatal deviation, a slip and a moment of inattention captured his eyes for a tiny second, when a horde crossed the portals of time, like an army declared against everything that was most sacred and crossed that awful battlefield.
There were really good, powerful defenders. Wizards, soldiers, fighters, sorcerers, gods. But none of them prepared for what was to come - at least not for Loki himself.
Dozens – or hundreds – of bodies lying, shattered and torn to pieces on the ground still didn't devastate it like the scene that would follow.
Kang advanced so subtly, evenly and lightly, against every effort Sylvie made to reach him, like a child struggling to match the strength of an adult.
The whole situation was doomed.
- Does this dagger bring you luck? – Kang mocked when he took it from Sylvie's hand with extraordinary ease, helpless by his own tiredness, while Loki felt too far away to do anything.
But he did – or at least, he tried to.
It materialized in front of the figure of a simple, human man, who carried with him the power that no man or creature should have. His purple clothes imbued with the symbolism of power, a color Loki was used to know, his face completely covered by a type of shield that left his skin pale and bluish.
- Killed you before. – She exuded confidence, it was typical, even when she looked exhausted. – Will kill you again.
- Presumptuous of you to believe I'm weak like that. - He replied. – And I know you. And you know me. – He went on, advancing slowly, Loki feeling the menacing, confident movements. – We don't need to play this game again. He paused briefly, tense anticipation building. - You're going to die today, Sylvie. – The name was pronounced in a way that made him shiver. Loki knew that only he could say it like that, hungry for the power. A fury surged through his body and he braced himself for a more arduous battle than he could have anticipated.
- Why warn, when you just might do it? - Sylvie threatened and Loki watched her hands glow green.
Kang smiled.
What was Sylvie doing? Would she enchant him? No matter what bold enough plan was in their mind, something in Loki still told them they couldn't win that battle – or war, if they better say.
- Sylvie? – Loki called, a fulminating battle outside. – Don't.
But that got Kang's attention, who immediately shifted his eyes to Sylvie's hands, making Loki feel more than guilty for ruining whatever plan came to his mind at that moment. Loki was more than able to predict any of Sylvie's sacrifice. He knew her too well for that.
But what was to come – what came – at the end of it all, was even more painful. It was the look of someone who knew he wouldn't resist.
When Sylvie looked at him, her eyes filled with compassion and remorse, a pain Loki couldn't measure, he just held onto that vision for as long as possible. She couldn't be planning do anything thoughtless.
- I started it all. – She said, as quickly as possible, while Kang watched them with a certain curiosity, if not interest, while giving them enough time to discover whatever was coming. – I will finish it.
- It's not your fault. – Loki assured, maybe even lowering his defenses, when the real threat didn't seem like Kang, but Sylvie and what she was about to do. - No matter what you think, we'll figure it out. Together. – He said, really wanting to believe that.
But her sigh – and her understanding – was unshakably bigger than all that.
- I love you. - That's what she said before, unpredictably, advancing against Kang with a new dagger that Loki had conjured for her moments before.
Then she attacked.
And he reciprocated with an unbelievably victorious smile on his face.
It didn't last long before, inevitably, Sylvie's dagger was again out of his grasp and Kang still had the same dagger that Sylvie had once used to kill him.
Anything else could be less painful than that, than seeing Kang cross it so nimbly against the body of the one Loki could supposedly say he loved the most, whom he was supposed to protect at all costs.
Sylvie had never needed protection, but that didn't mean he didn't want to give it to her, and then he saw his magic run over Kang's arms and even into his face. He gave one last smile and Loki knew, not unlike when they first met, she was enchanting him – perhaps, if only briefly, taking over his body to make it into a host or something.
Loki knew it wouldn't last long. Just as it hadn't worked on him before, nothing could mean that spell would last for long, but it was enough time for Sylvie's body to fall to the ground, completely damaged, as she slightly regained consciousness, without even what had happened. done.
She only said she loved him once, and that time was now, and he couldn't say it back.
He couldn't say it back.
Loki was still trying to be open with any sort of hopeless on him.
Her eyes held his as he held her as if she were the most precious jewel in the world – in his world – and she looked up at him again.
- I hope this buys you a little more time. – That's what she said and, again, time was all they'd fought for – and couldn't have. And then Loki didn't have time to answer.
- Sylvie? - He called, as he saw her eyes close almost as fast as the life in her body cracked and went completely away.
Loki was devastated. No, he was broken.
- Sylvie? – He called again, in an inaudible whisper, feeling her body soften beneath his, her eyes staring at the blue sky above and, perhaps, feeling faintly grateful that the freedom of a blue sky was perhaps the only last sight of a woman who had spent her entire life trapped in apocalypses.
But he couldn't believe that.
Countless memories flashed through his head, imagining every part of them that broke him whole. So, he decided to call once more, completely helpless.
- Sylvie?
There was no response from a dead body.
Guilt filled him, along with anger and enraged hatred at the creature standing in front of him.
There was no questioning it, and try as he might to fight it, nothing told him to leave her body now, and yet he did, as he rose to reach for it, to eliminate all magic in him, and even if he dies trying, it would have no meaning.
For a certain moment, he even did, venting all the hatred, which was widely received, shot down, knocked out. He didn't care if Kang was going to kill him too, he had already taken enough from Loki. But instead, he just got up when Loki felt completely drained.
- What are you doing? - Kang asked, making Loki feel deeply confused, but then, a part of him returned and he just smiled, triumphant and painfully ironic. – I'm really sorry that everything has to be like this.
So, Loki charged forward, using every weapon in him and he really wore himself out by it. He didn't get help, and he didn't want it either. Sylvie's body lying on the cold ground was enough motivation for Loki to realize that he wanted to end all that pain alone.
- What makes you think I can't destroy you like a bug? – Kang uttered, being hit by daggers and waves of green magic. – That's what you are.
- Not. – Loki said, using all the strength of his body against all the technology present in the suit: materialization, time travel, power. How could he defeat that? – That's what you are. - He finally said, ironically, a smile filling his lips, until Kang himself could advance against him, dumping all remaining fury against Loki's body.
It didn't take many minutes before Loki was completely knocked out, exhausted on his own fight, thrown to the ground a few feet away from Sylvie – or what had once been hers.
So, when Kang got close enough to see every last drop of life force residing in Loki's body, he just stared at the scene, intent.
For a brief minute, Loki thought he was going to die, and honestly, he wished he did. But it didn't seem to be close to what was going to happen. Or what he deserved.
Kang held the tip of his chin, lifting it up and making him visualize him very close and even feel his breath when he said in clear words:
- I want you to know that you only survived by my mercy. – He said, making Loki feel awful.
And then, he let Loki's jaw drop and disappeared into his suit, leaving no trace of where he would go, whatever timeline it was, without Loki being able to scale half of his power.
But nothing else mattered, for as he dragged himself alongside what Sylvie had once been, part of him ceased to be alive with her.
Stalling that wound in her body wouldn't bring her back, any more than it would heal the wound that would remain open in Loki for a lifetime.
He held her again and, before he could even think, he just kept her in his arms, desolate and inert, looking to the heavens for an answer that would never come.
Sylvie was dead and Kang would win.
This was not a world Loki wanted to live in.
That was not a world he would.
- I love you too. – He finally answered, but dead bodies could tell no tales.